George Washington Bush
Encyclopedia
George Washington Bush (1779 –April 5, 1863) was one of the first American
settler
s and the first black
settler in what would later become the U.S. state
of Washington.
around 1778. An only child, he was raised as a Quaker and educated in Philadelphia. Bush’s father, Matthew, was born in India
but was of African
descent. Matthew Bush worked for a wealthy English
merchant named Stevenson for most of his life. At Stevenson’s home in Philadelphia, Matthew Bush met his wife, an Irish
maid who also worked for Stevenson. George's parents served Stevenson until his death. Stevenson had no other family and so left the Bushes a substantial fortune.
at the Battle of New Orleans
. He later worked as a voyageur
and fur trapper, including several years spent in Oregon Country
working for Hudson's Bay Company
(HBC).
where he married Isabella James, the daughter of a Baptist
minister of German
descent, on July 4, 1831. Missouri was a slave state
at the time. Bush was a free man and had never been a slave but, because he was black, Missouri did not provide him the same legal status as a white
man, and his family faced severe prejudice.
) left Missouri, heading west on the Oregon Trail
. Bush's navigation skills and knowledge of the western region, gained during his years as a trapper, made him the indispensable guide of the party. Isabella's training as a nurse was an important contribution as well. Bush and his family were also known to be very generous, purchasing supplies for their fellow travelers first in Missouri and later at great expense at Fort Bridger
.
By the time the Bush-Simmons party reached the Oregon Country over four months later, the Provisional Government of Oregon
had passed laws preventing Black Americans from owning land. As a result, Bush and his party traveled north across the Columbia River
, into territory that at the time was claimed by both
the United States
and Great Britain
. Bush's connections with the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver
may have helped the settlers gain access where the company had previously barred Americans from settling.
in what is now Tumwater, Washington
. Bush and Michael Simmons built the area's first gristmill and sawmill, and Bush helped finance Simmons' logging company.
The Oregon Treaty
of 1846 ended the joint administration north of the Columbia, placing Bush Prairie firmly in the United States. Ironically, by staking an American claim to the area, Bush and his party had also brought Oregon's Black American exclusion laws, clouding the title to their land; these laws would not apply if the territory were under the British Empire. When the Washington Territory
was formed in 1853, one of the first actions of the Territorial Legislature in Olympia
was to ask Congress
to give the Bushes unambiguous ownership of their land, which it did in 1855.
According to the Oregon Trail History Library,
George Washington Bush lived out the rest of his life in Washington. Bush died on April 5, 1863, and is the only veteran of the War of 1812 buried in Thurston County, Washington. Isabella James Bush died September 12, 1866.
. In 1890, he introduced the bill establishing the institution that is now Washington State University
.
In 1973, Jacob Lawrence
did a series of five paintings depicting George Washington Bush’s journey by wagon train from Missouri to Bush Prairie. The paintings are in the collection of the Washington State Historical Society.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
settler
Settler
A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. Settlers are generally people who take up residence on land and cultivate it, as opposed to nomads...
s and the first black
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
settler in what would later become the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Washington.
Early life
George Washington Bush was born in PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
around 1778. An only child, he was raised as a Quaker and educated in Philadelphia. Bush’s father, Matthew, was born in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
but was of African
African people
African people refers to natives, inhabitants, or citizen of Africa and to people of African descent.-Etymology:Many etymological hypotheses that have been postulated for the ancient name "Africa":...
descent. Matthew Bush worked for a wealthy English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
merchant named Stevenson for most of his life. At Stevenson’s home in Philadelphia, Matthew Bush met his wife, an Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
maid who also worked for Stevenson. George's parents served Stevenson until his death. Stevenson had no other family and so left the Bushes a substantial fortune.
Soldier and trapper
George Washington Bush fought in the War of 1812War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
at the Battle of New Orleans
Battle of New Orleans
The Battle of New Orleans took place on January 8, 1815 and was the final major battle of the War of 1812. American forces, commanded by Major General Andrew Jackson, defeated an invading British Army intent on seizing New Orleans and the vast territory the United States had acquired with the...
. He later worked as a voyageur
Coureur des bois
A coureur des bois or coureur de bois was an independent entrepreneurial French-Canadian woodsman who traveled in New France and the interior of North America. They travelled in the woods to trade various things for fur....
and fur trapper, including several years spent in Oregon Country
Oregon Country
The Oregon Country was a predominantly American term referring to a disputed ownership region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s, with its coastal areas north from...
working for Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
(HBC).
Missouri and marriage
Around 1830, Bush returned to MissouriMissouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
where he married Isabella James, the daughter of a Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
minister of German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
descent, on July 4, 1831. Missouri was a slave state
Slave state
In the United States of America prior to the American Civil War, a slave state was a U.S. state in which slavery was legal, whereas a free state was one in which slavery was either prohibited from its entry into the Union or eliminated over time...
at the time. Bush was a free man and had never been a slave but, because he was black, Missouri did not provide him the same legal status as a white
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
man, and his family faced severe prejudice.
To the Northwest
In 1844, Bush and his family (along with five other families including his friend Michael SimmonsMichael Simmons
Michael Simmons is the author of the bestselling book,The Student Success Manifesto: How to Create a Life of Passion, Purpose, and Prosperity, which has received testimonials from Mark Victor Hansen, Stephen Covey, Russell Simmons, and Paul Orfalea .Simmons, along with wife Sheena Lindahl, founded...
) left Missouri, heading west on the Oregon Trail
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail is a historic east-west wagon route that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon and locations in between.After 1840 steam-powered riverboats and steamboats traversing up and down the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers sped settlement and development in the flat...
. Bush's navigation skills and knowledge of the western region, gained during his years as a trapper, made him the indispensable guide of the party. Isabella's training as a nurse was an important contribution as well. Bush and his family were also known to be very generous, purchasing supplies for their fellow travelers first in Missouri and later at great expense at Fort Bridger
Fort Bridger
Fort Bridger was originally a 19th century fur trading outpost established in 1842 on Blacks Fork of the Green River and later a vital resupply point for wagon trains on the Oregon Trail, California Trail and Mormon Trail. The Army established a military post here in 1858 during the Utah War until...
.
By the time the Bush-Simmons party reached the Oregon Country over four months later, the Provisional Government of Oregon
Provisional Government of Oregon
The Provisional Government of Oregon was a popularly elected government created in the Oregon Country, in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. It existed from May 2, 1843 until March 3, 1849. Created at a time when no country had sovereignty over the region, this independent government...
had passed laws preventing Black Americans from owning land. As a result, Bush and his party traveled north across the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
, into territory that at the time was claimed by both
Oregon boundary dispute
The Oregon boundary dispute, or the Oregon Question, arose as a result of competing British and American claims to the Pacific Northwest of North America in the first half of the 19th century. Both the United Kingdom and the United States had territorial and commercial aspirations in the region...
the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Great Britain
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
. Bush's connections with the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver
Fort Vancouver
Fort Vancouver was a 19th century fur trading outpost along the Columbia River that served as the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company in the company's Columbia District...
may have helped the settlers gain access where the company had previously barred Americans from settling.
Bush Prairie
The Bushes and the other five families established a settlement, named Bush Prairie, at the southernmost tip of Puget SoundPuget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...
in what is now Tumwater, Washington
Tumwater, Washington
Tumwater is a city in Thurston County, Washington, United States. It lies near where the Deschutes River enters Budd Inlet, the southernmost point of Puget Sound. The population was 17,371 at the 2010 census...
. Bush and Michael Simmons built the area's first gristmill and sawmill, and Bush helped finance Simmons' logging company.
The Oregon Treaty
Oregon Treaty
The Oregon Treaty is a treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States that was signed on June 15, 1846, in Washington, D.C. The treaty brought an end to the Oregon boundary dispute by settling competing American and British claims to the Oregon Country, which had been jointly occupied by...
of 1846 ended the joint administration north of the Columbia, placing Bush Prairie firmly in the United States. Ironically, by staking an American claim to the area, Bush and his party had also brought Oregon's Black American exclusion laws, clouding the title to their land; these laws would not apply if the territory were under the British Empire. When the Washington Territory
Washington Territory
The Territory of Washington was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 8, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington....
was formed in 1853, one of the first actions of the Territorial Legislature in Olympia
Olympia, Washington
Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat of Thurston County. It was incorporated on January 28, 1859. The population was 46,478 at the 2010 census...
was to ask Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
to give the Bushes unambiguous ownership of their land, which it did in 1855.
According to the Oregon Trail History Library,
The Bush-Simmons Party is credited by some historians as having been in large part responsible for bringing the land north of the Columbia River—the present-day state of Washington—into the United States. They established a presence that attracted other settlers and strengthened the American claim to the area in later debates between Great Britain and the United States over partitioning the Oregon Country.
George Washington Bush lived out the rest of his life in Washington. Bush died on April 5, 1863, and is the only veteran of the War of 1812 buried in Thurston County, Washington. Isabella James Bush died September 12, 1866.
Legacy
Their six sons carried on their tradition of farming and public service. The eldest, William Owen Bush, served twice in the Washington State LegislatureWashington State Legislature
The Washington State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a bipartisan, bicameral body, composed of the lower Washington House of Representatives, composed of 98 Representatives, and the upper Washington State Senate, with 49 Senators.The State Legislature...
. In 1890, he introduced the bill establishing the institution that is now Washington State University
Washington State University
Washington State University is a public research university based in Pullman, Washington, in the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. Founded in 1890, WSU is the state's original and largest land-grant university...
.
In 1973, Jacob Lawrence
Jacob Lawrence
Jacob Lawrence was an American painter; he was married to fellow artist Gwendolyn Knight. Lawrence referred to his style as "dynamic cubism", though by his own account the primary influence was not so much French art as the shapes and colors of Harlem.Lawrence is among the best-known twentieth...
did a series of five paintings depicting George Washington Bush’s journey by wagon train from Missouri to Bush Prairie. The paintings are in the collection of the Washington State Historical Society.